Women & Outcomes

The Confidence Connection

Correlated with lower overall financial literacy on retirement income topics, women also have lower retirement confidence and financial well-being scores than men.

The 2023 Retirement Income Literacy Study uses a Retirement Confidence Scale based on respondents’ self-reported confidence they will: feel financially secure, have enough money to live comfortably, and do a good job handling their investments throughout retirement.

The core study this year reveals as retirement planning knowledge (as measured by Retirement Income Literacy Score) improves, so does confidence. Working with a financial advisor amplifies this positive effect at every financial literacy level. All of this is true of both genders.

With this backdrop, the 2023 Retirement Income Literacy Study: Women’s View offers two additional findings:

1. What’s Not Surprising: Men are significantly more confident (2.7) than women (2.5).
2. What Is Surprising: Women who make financial decisions together with other household members, compared to those who are the primary decision-makers, have significantly higher confidence (2.7 vs. 2.4)—despite identical Retirement Income Literacy Scores (29%). This does not occur in the respective men’s groups (whose confidence and knowledge remain unchanged regardless of whether they are the primary or co-decision-makers). It also seems to break the rule of higher confidence correlated to higher knowledge—indicating that sharing in financial decision-making may create a false sense of security for women, but not for men.